Bryan Stevenson is a particularly impassioned and persuasive voice on this topic. He is a Harvard University-trained public defense attorney who is the director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Pacific Standard contributing writer James McWilliams spoke with Stevenson about the ongoing societal damage created through this traumatic history in the modern day. He discussed how confronting these continued problems is the only way to achieve any sort of solution: "You can't do reconciliation work, you can't do restoration work, you can't do racial justice work, you can't create the outcome that you desire to see until there has been truth-telling."

In an interview with editorial intern Chinelo Nkechi Ikem, writer Ijeoma Oluo brought up another aspect of racial trauma: how people of color are not only forced to reckon with these issues, but then also act as the main driver of conversations about race in America: "For people of color, not only are you bringing up trauma and things that have happened to you, and talking about real pains and experience, but you are also risking that pain being used against you and that pain causing even more pain." It is in this way that society expects people of color to take agency in changing the forces that have inflicted trauma upon them.

At Pacific Standard, we have a responsibility to take on part of this burden and push the conversation on race in America into a more productive and progressive place. By covering these stories and issues we are trying to help partake in that movement toward a more inclusive society.

This dispatch originally appeared in The Lede, the weekly Pacific Standard email newsletter for premium members. The Lede gives premium members greater access to Pacific Standard stories, staff, and contributors in their inbox every week. While helping to support journalism in the public interest, members also receive a print magazine subscription, early access to feature stories, and access to an ad-free version of PSmag.com.

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